BLAINE – The Nooksack Valley football team knew what it needed to do, and they did it on Thursday night by defeating Blaine 49-2.
The victory sets the Pioneers up in a matchup against Granite Falls next week for a trip to the state tournament.
Nooksack Valley scored on its first play from scrimmage on a 45-yard carry by junior Colton Lentz. That was followed up by a fumble recovery by senior Skyler Whittern, and the Pioneers had their second 1-play drive in a row to start the game, this time it being a 21-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Joey Brown.
The Borderites countered with a long kickoff return but Nooksack Valley senior Jackson Bennett was able to rip the ball loose, and it was recovered near midfield by Pioneer senior John Stremler.
Nooksack Valley turned the turnover into points just eight plays later on a 7-yard keeper by Brown, and the Pioneers led 21-0 after the first quarter.
Both Lentz and Whittern scored rushing touchdowns in the second quarter to make it a 35-0 halftime score.
Brown was on point all game, and completed nine of his 10 pass attempts for 133 yards. One of them was a 4-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to junior Cory Olney.
Whittern scored his second touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter, and finished with 68 yards on 10 carries. Lentz led the Pioneers on the ground with 127 yards on 12 carries.
The Borderites scored two points on a safety on the final play of the game.
Nooksack Valley was led defensively by Stremler who had 3.5 tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass broken up and a fumble recovery. He was aided by junior defensive end Brady Ackerman who had two tackles for loss, and Lentz who had 4.5 tackles and a quarterback sack.
Blaine was led defensively by juniors Blake Koreski and Colby Shipp who each had 6.5 tackles.
As stated earlier, the Pioneers (6-2) will travel to Granite Falls (7-2) on Friday to take on the Tigers at 7:00 for a spot in the 1A state playoffs, and the Borderites (2-7) will finish their season on the road against East Jefferson (0-7) on Friday at 6:00.
Nooksack Valley 49 Blaine 2 NV 21 14 7 7 - 49 BLA 0 0 0 2 - 2 NV - Lentz 45 run (Vigre kick) NV - J. Brown 21 run (Vigre kick) NV - J. Brown 7 run (Vigre kick) NV - Lentz 2 run (Vigre kick) NV - Whittern 1 run (Vigre kick) NV - Olney 4 pass from J. Brown (Vigre kick) NV - Whittern 2 run (Vigre kick) BLA - Safety, ball snapped and recovered in end zone NV BLA 27-241 Rush Att-Yards 22-42 10-11-0 Comp-Att-Int 12-21-0 148 Passing Yards 146 Individual Leaders RUSHING - NV: Lentz 12-127, Whittern 10-68, J. Brown 4-45, Huante 1-1. BLA: Paez 15-27, Shipp 4-8, Davis 2-5, Kerwin 1-2. PASSING - NV: J. Brown 9-10-0-133, E. Brown 1-1-0-15. BLA: Davis 12-21-0-146. RECEIVING - NV: Olney 4-62, Bauman 2-44, Bennett 2-27, Kamphouse 1-9, Whittern 1-6. BLA: Kerwin 5-13, Minjarez 3-89, Deming 2-25, Bouma 1-20, Shipp 1-(-1).
